John 2:12 - Meaning and Application

Here we see, first, the short visit Christ made to Capernaum (John 2:12). It was a large and busy city, about a day’s journey from Cana. Matthew calls it “his own city” (Matthew 9:1), because Jesus made it his base in Galilee, and found what little rest he had there. It was a place where many people gathered, so Christ chose it to spread the news of his teaching and miracles more widely.

Notice the company that went with him there: his mother, his brothers, and his disciples. Wherever Christ went, he did not go alone. He took along those who had placed themselves under his care, so he could teach them and so they could witness his miracles. They also followed him, because they were drawn by the sweetness of his teaching and his works (John 6:26).

His mother, though he had just shown that in his ministry he would not give her special treatment above others, still followed him. She did not come to press requests on him, but to learn from him. His brothers and other relatives had been at the wedding and had been stirred by the miracle there. His disciples came too, because they kept company with him wherever he went. It seems people were more moved by Christ’s miracles at first than they were later, when repeated wonders seemed less surprising.

He stayed there only a few days, because he was only beginning an acquaintance that he would later deepen. Christ was still moving from place to place, because he would not limit his work to one location when many people needed him. He also showed his followers that they were only temporary residents in this world, and taught his ministers to follow open doors and go where their work led them.

We do not find Christ in the synagogues at this point, but teaching his friends privately. In that way, he began his work little by little. It is good for young ministers to become used to godly and helpful conversation in private, so they can come to public work with better preparation and greater reverence. He did not stay long in Capernaum, because the Passover was near and he had to go to Jerusalem. Everything is beautiful in its proper season, and the lesser good must give way to the greater.

Next, we read of the Passover he kept in Jerusalem. This was the first one after his baptism, and John records all the Passovers he kept from then on, four in all. The fourth was the one at which he suffered, about three years later, and by then about six months had passed since his baptism. Christ, being under the law, observed the Passover at Jerusalem, as commanded (Exodus 23:17). By his example, he taught us to keep God’s appointed worship carefully and to attend religious gatherings faithfully.

He went up to Jerusalem as the Passover drew near, so he could be there at the beginning. It is called the Jews’ Passover because it belonged especially to them. Christ is our Passover, and soon God would no longer recognize the old feast in the same way. Christ had kept the Passover at Jerusalem every year since he was twelve, in obedience to the law. But now that he had begun his public ministry, we should expect something more from him. At Jerusalem, we are told, he did two things.

First, he purified the temple (John 2:14-17). The first place we find him in Jerusalem is the temple, and he seems not to have made a public appearance until he came there. His presence and teaching there would be the glory of the latter temple, greater than the glory of the former (Haggai 2:9). It was also foretold, “I will send my messenger” by John the Baptist, and then “the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple” (Malachi 3:1). So this was the time, and the temple the place, where the Messiah was to be expected.

The first work we see him doing in the temple is purging it, as had also been foretold (Malachi 3:2-3). He would sit as a refiner and purify the sons of Levi. Now the time for reform had come. Christ came as the great reformer, and like the reforming kings of Judah, he first removed what was wrong, as had been done at Passover in Hezekiah’s day (2 Chronicles 30:14-15) and Josiah’s day (2 Kings 23:4 and following), and then taught them to do what was right. First remove the old leaven, then keep the feast. Christ came into the world to reform it, and he expects all who come to him to reform their hearts and lives (Genesis 35:2). He taught that by purifying the temple.

We should ask what corruptions needed to be removed. He found a market in one of the temple courts, the court of the Gentiles, inside the temple area. There they sold oxen, sheep, and doves for sacrifice. We may suppose this was meant to help those who came from the countryside and could not bring animals with them (Deuteronomy 14:24-26). Perhaps this market had once been by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2), but the chief priests allowed it into the temple for greedy gain. No doubt they profited from renting the space, inspecting the animals, and certifying that they were without blemish. Many serious corruptions in the church begin with love of money (1 Timothy 6:5, 10).

They also changed money, to help those who had to pay the yearly half-shekel in coin for the service of the tabernacle (Exodus 30:12). They also profited from that. Christ had seen these abuses in the temple before, while he lived privately, but he did not act against them until now, when he had entered his public role as a prophet. He did not complain to the chief priests, because he knew they supported these corruptions. Instead, he acted himself.

First, he drove out the sheep and oxen, along with the sellers, from the temple. He never used force to bring anyone into the temple, only to drive out those who profaned it. He did not take the animals for himself, nor seize them as if they were trespassers on his Father’s ground. He simply drove them out, along with their owners. He made a whip of small cords, likely the cords they had used to lead their animals, and which had been thrown on the ground. Sinners often prepare the whip with which they themselves will be driven from the Lord’s temple. He did not make the whip to beat the offenders, because his judgments are of another kind, but only to drive out the animals. His aim was reform, and nothing more (Romans 13:3-4; 2 Corinthians 10:8).

Second, he poured out the money of the money-changers, the small coins they had collected.

By pouring out the money, Jesus showed how little he valued it. He threw it down to the ground, where it belonged. By overturning the tables, he showed his anger against people who turn religion into a way to make money. Money-changers in the temple were a disgrace to it.

In reforming evil, it is wise to do the work fully. He drove them all out. He did not only throw out the money, but by overturning the tables he shut down the trade as well. Then he said to those who sold doves, which were sacrifices for the poor, “Take these things away.” The doves took up less room and caused less trouble than the oxen and sheep, but they still had no place there. Sparrows and swallows were welcome because they were left to God’s care (Psalm 84:3), but the doves were set aside for human profit. God’s temple must not be turned into a pigeon house.

Still, see Christ’s wisdom in his zeal. When he drove out the sheep and oxen, their owners could follow them. When he poured out the money, they could gather it up again. But if he had set the doves flying, they might not have been recovered. So to those who sold doves he simply said, “Take these things away.” Wisdom must always guide zeal, so that we do nothing unworthy of ourselves or harmful to others.

He also gave them a clear reason for what he did: “Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.” Correction should come with a reason that convicts the conscience. First, they should not profane the temple, because it was God’s house, not a marketplace. Trade is a good thing in the market, but not in the temple. This was to take what had been set apart for God’s honor and use it for gain. It was sacrilege, a robbery against God.

It also dragged down what was holy and made it common. It disturbed the worship that should have been solemn and focused. It was especially an insult to the Gentiles, the “sons of the stranger,” who had to worship in the court where this market was held. Their worship was crowded by sheep, oxen, and market noise. It also made religion serve a worldly interest, since the holiness of the place was used to boost sales and promote the merchants’ goods.

People make God’s house a house of merchandise in two ways. One is by filling their minds with business cares while they are attending worship, as in (Amos 8:5) and (Ezekiel 33:31). The other is by doing sacred work for greedy gain, or even trying to sell the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as in (Acts 8:18). Second, Christ gave another reason for his action, because this was his Father’s house. That gave him authority to cleanse it, for he was faithful as a Son over his own house (Hebrews 3:5, Hebrews 3:6). When he called God his Father, he showed that he was the Messiah, the one promised in (2 Samuel 7:13, 2 Samuel 7:14).

Because it was his Father’s house, he had a holy zeal for its cleansing. “It is my Father’s house,” he was saying, “so I cannot bear to see it dishonored.” If God is our Father in heaven, and we want his name to be kept holy, then it must grieve us to see it polluted. Christ’s cleansing of the temple may rightly be counted among his great wonders. Of all the miracles Christ did, Jerome said this one seemed to him the most amazing.

Think about how he did it, without the help of his friends. It would have been easy to stir up the crowd, since many people honored the temple and would have opposed its profanation. But Christ never approved anything disorderly or violent. He stood alone, and his own arm carried it out. He also did it without resistance from his enemies, whether the merchants themselves or the chief priests who licensed them and had the temple guards under their command. The corruption was too clear to defend. Guilty consciences are often a reformer’s best allies. Even more, God’s power was at work here, a power over human hearts. In their lack of resistance, the words of (Malachi 3:2, Malachi 3:3) were fulfilled: “Who will stand when he appears?”

The disciples remembered what was written: “The zeal of your house has consumed me” (John 2:17). At first, they were surprised to see the one they had been told was the Lamb of God acting with such strong heat, and the King of Israel doing this himself with so little outward dignity. But one Scripture helped them understand that this action fit both his meekness and his majesty. David, speaking of the Messiah, had already described his zeal for God’s house as so strong that it consumed him, as in (Psalm 69:9).

The disciples came to understand Christ’s work by remembering Scripture. The word of God and the works of God explain each other. Dark passages of Scripture become clearer when they are fulfilled in providence, and hard events become easier to understand when compared with Scripture. This shows how useful it is for Christ’s disciples to know the Scriptures well and keep their memories full of its truths, so they are ready for every good work.

The Scripture they remembered fit this case perfectly: “The zeal of your house has consumed me.” David was, in this, a type of Christ, since he was deeply devoted to God’s house (Psalm 132:2, Psalm 132:3). What he did for it, he did with all his strength, as in (1 Chronicles 29:2). The latter part of (Psalm 69:9) is applied to Christ in (Romans 15:3), and the earlier part is applied here. All the graces found in the Old Testament saints were found in Christ in a far higher way, and especially this zeal for God’s house. They were examples for us, and also shadows that pointed to him.

Jesus Christ was deeply zealous for God’s house, which is his church. He loved it and was always careful for its honor and good. This zeal consumed him. It made him humble himself, spend himself, and expose himself. “My zeal has consumed me” (Psalm 119:139). Zeal for God’s house keeps us from worrying too much about our own reputation, comfort, or safety when duty and Christ’s service require something else. Sometimes it carries us so strongly and so far in our duty that our bodies cannot keep up with our hearts, and it makes us as deaf as our Master to those who say, “Save yourself.” The wrongs here may seem small, and easy to overlook, but Christ’s zeal would not even allow those who bought and sold in the temple. If he had found drunkards there, what would the Lord have done?

If Christ had found drunkards in the temple, how much more displeased would he have been? After he had cleared the temple, he gave a sign to those who demanded one, to prove his authority for doing it.

They asked for a sign. The Jews, that is, the crowd and their leaders, answered him. Since they were Jews, they should have stood with him and helped defend the honor of their temple. Instead, they opposed him. Those who work in earnest to reform abuses should expect resistance. When they could find nothing wrong with the act itself, they questioned his right to do it. “What sign do you show us,” they asked, “to prove that you are authorized to do these things?” Purging the temple was a good work, but they thought he had no office there. They treated it as an act of authority, and they wanted him to prove he was a prophet, or even more than a prophet. Yet the deed itself was already a sign. His power to drive so many people from their places without any resistance showed his authority. Surely the one who acted with such divine power also had a divine commission. What was it that made the sellers and buyers flee and fall back? It was the presence of the Lord (Psalm 114:5, Psalm 114:7).

Christ answered their demand in John 2:19, but he did not work an immediate miracle to convince them. Instead, he gave them a sign in something that would happen later, something whose truth would be shown by the outcome, as in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. The sign he gave was his own death and resurrection. This was, first, his final sign. If they would not believe what they saw and heard, they would have to wait. Second, it was the great sign that proved him to be the Messiah, since it had been foretold that he would be wounded (Isaiah 53:5), cut off (Daniel 9:26), and yet not see decay (Psalm 16:10). All of this was fulfilled in the blessed Jesus. So he truly was the Son of God and had authority in his Father’s house.

He foretold his death and resurrection, but not in plain language. As he often did with those who were unwilling to learn, he spoke in figurative words. Later, when he gave this same sign, he called it the sign of Jonah. Here he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” He spoke this way to people who were willing to remain ignorant, so they would not understand (Matthew 13:13-14). Those who refuse to see will not see. In fact, this figurative saying became such a stumbling block to them that it was used at his trial as evidence against him, to accuse him of blasphemy (Matthew 26:60-61). If they had humbly asked what he meant, he would have explained it to them, and it would have brought them life. Instead, they chose to argue, and it became a cause of judgment. Since they would not be convinced, they were hardened. Even the way he spoke this prophecy helped bring it to pass.

He foretold his death through the malice of the Jews, saying, “Destroy you this temple.” In other words, “You will destroy it. I know you will. I will allow you to destroy it.” Christ, even at the start of his ministry, clearly saw all his sufferings at the end of it, and he still went forward gladly. It is wise, when beginning any work, to expect the worst. He foretold his resurrection by his own power: “In three days I will raise it up.” Others were raised, but Christ raised himself and took up his own life again.

He chose the image of destroying and rebuilding the temple for two reasons. First, he was defending himself for cleansing the temple they had profaned. It was as if he were saying, “You who defile one temple will destroy another, and I will prove my right to cleanse what you have defiled by raising up what you will destroy.” To profane the temple is, in effect, to destroy it, and to reform it is to raise it again. Second, Christ’s death really did bring about the destruction of the Jewish temple, as the means of it. His resurrection raised up another temple, the gospel church, the church built around the promised branch and king (Zechariah 6:12). The ruin of their city and nation (John 11:48) became the riches of the world. See also Amos 9:11 and Acts 15:16.

They answered with a complaint: “Forty-six years was this temple in building” (John 2:20). Temple work had always been slow work, so how could he do such a thing so quickly? Here they showed some knowledge, because they could say how long the temple had been under construction. Dr. Lightfoot calculates that it was exactly forty-six years from the beginning of Zerubbabel’s temple, in the second year of Cyrus, to the full settling of the temple service in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes. The same number of years also ran from Herod’s starting work on this temple, in the 18th year of his reign, to the time when the Jews said these words.

But they also showed more ignorance. First, they misunderstood Christ’s words. People often make serious mistakes when they take literally what Scripture means figuratively. Much harm has been done by reading “This is my body” in a physical, fleshly way. Second, they did not understand Christ’s almighty power, as if he could do no more than any other man. If they had known that he was the one who made all things in six days, they would not have thought it absurd for him to build a temple in three days.

The answer to their objection is simple once the meaning is explained. He was speaking of the temple of his body (John 2:21). Christ had shown great respect for the temple by purging it, yet he wants us to know that its holiness, which he defended so strongly, was only a picture. It leads us to another temple, of which the Jerusalem temple was only a shadow. The substance is Christ himself (Hebrews 9:9, Colossians 2:17). Some think that when he said, “Destroy this temple,” he pointed to his own body or laid his hand on it. In any case, it is certain that he was speaking of the temple of his body. The body of Christ is the true temple, of which the temple in Jerusalem was a type.

Like the temple, Christ’s body was built by direct divine direction: “A body you prepared for me” (1 Chronicles 28:19). Like the temple, it was a holy house, even called that holy thing. Like the temple, it was the place where God’s glory dwelled. There the eternal Word lived, the true shechinah, the visible sign of God’s presence. He is Emmanuel, God with us. The temple was the place where God met with Israel, and where Israel came before him. There God made himself known to them, and there they brought their prayers and service to him. In the same way, God speaks to us through Christ, and we speak to him through Christ. Worshipers looked toward that house (1 Kings 8:30, 1 Kings 8:35), and so we must worship God with our eyes fixed on Christ.

The disciples reflected on this much later, and John includes it here to help explain the story (John 2:22). After Jesus rose from the dead, they remembered that he had said this. Earlier, we saw them remembering what had been written about him (John 2:17), and here we see them remembering what they had heard from him. Christ’s disciples should store up both old truths and new ones, like a wise teacher’s well-stocked householder’s treasure (Matthew 13:52).

Notice when they remembered this saying, after Jesus had risen from the dead. At the time, they did not fully understand what he meant, because they were still young in understanding. But they kept the words in their hearts, and later those words became clear and useful. It is wise to listen now with an eye toward later understanding (Isaiah 42:23). Young believers, and those still growing in faith, should hold on to truths they do not yet fully grasp, because those truths will help them later when they know more.

This saying seemed to “wake up” in their minds when Jesus rose from the dead. Some teachers in the past said that the sayings of Pythagoras seemed to stay frozen in his students until they were about forty, and then they began to thaw. In the same way, Christ’s words came alive in the disciples’ memories after his resurrection. Why then? First, because the Holy Spirit was given to bring back to mind everything Jesus had said and make it clear and ready to use (John 14:26). On the very day he rose, Christ also opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). Second, because his words had now been fulfilled. When the temple of his body was destroyed and raised again on the third day, they remembered these words and others like them.

This shows how much it helps to understand Scripture by watching it fulfilled. The event explains the prophecy. The disciples then believed the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. Their faith in both was strengthened and refreshed. They had been slow to believe (Luke 24:25), but their belief became firmer. Here “the Scripture” and “the word of Jesus” are placed together, not because they disagree, but because each one sheds light on the other. When the disciples saw what they had read in the Old Testament and what they had heard from Christ himself both come true in his death and resurrection, their trust in both grew stronger.